Improvements
If you have an idea for improving the bicycle facilities in the Reno Metro area, post it in the comments. I’ll aggregate the best ideas and put them into the main part of the page.
Note that ideas should be specific, and not too large in scope. Some thing like “all roads should have a bike lane” is not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for ideas that can be passed along to the people who make decisions about building more bicycle facilities. I’m sure we can think of simple, creative things that they might not have thought of.
Idea #2: Create a North/South Bike Boulevard
by terry_mcafee
“I’d like Reno to make a north south “bike boulevard” route that would connect UNR with Meadowood Mall, more or less, with bicycle favored streets. My idea is Arlington or a nearby parallel street connecting to Mt Rose Street then Lakeside.”
I agree with this 100% and would love to see a network of not just north/south, but east/west routes that connect the residential areas with the downtown/university area, industrial and commercial sections of town. It’s not enough to have a bike lane here and there. To make a city truly bikeable, you need to be able to make connections without digging out a map and spending half an hour working out the maze of bikeable, semi-bikeable, and I-hope-I-don’t-get-killed streets.
Idea #1: Close Virginia St. Downtown to Car Traffic
by Jeremy
Although it may sound heretical to some, closing the downtown section of Virginia (between say, 7th and the river) would be a fantastic move towards making downtown more livable. With the street closed to car traffic, a “rubber rail” public transportation vehicle could move up and down the center of the street while bicycles could move along either side of the street. Pedestrians could use the existing wide sidewalks.
The impact wouldn’t be as bad as many people might think. Virginia is only one lane in either direction and doesn’t move a high volume of traffic. The casino parking structures are already primarily accessed from Sierra or Center. Both Sierra and Center are three lanes wide downtown, and can handle quite a bit of additional traffic. Besides, how many summer weekends can you actually drive all the way down Virginia without running into a special event? The best part is, all the special events could still take place, even Hot August Nights.
Some businesses would certainly be negatively affected. The drive-up motels would have to reconfigure their parking or close. Others would face similar difficulties, and it may be prudent for the city to buy them out. On the positive side, those buildings/spaces may be useful for more “modern” business purposes, or even small townhouse/loft-like living spaces.